403 Don't Be So Sure of What You Have
by desy
Summary: Set after 3.13/4.02: The remaining Black Ships are attacking specific outposts and traderouts, making it obvious that they have insider knowledge of the big corporations. The crew of the Raza knows that it's the alien possessed simulants' doings. Two and Three go undercover on a charity gala to kidnap a simulant they found in the DwarfStar database Five had copied/hacked into.


**4.03 – Don't be so sure of what you have**

Spoilers: Season 1-3 & Joseph Mallozzi's Virtual Season 4.01 & 4.02 (look onto his website/blog to read how season 3's cliffhanger ends).

Disclaimer: Dark Matter belongs to Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie. Not making money here.

I just can't stop thinking how it might continue (I so hope that there will be some kind of continuation of this amazing show - even if it's just the twittered version or a comic; I still do have my hopes to read Mr. Mallozzi's 4.03).

Have a look at Twitter #darkmatter: there are still campaigns running to save the show in the one way or another!

Summary: The remaining Black Ships are attacking specific outposts and traderouts, making it obvious that they have insider knowledge of the big corporations. The crew of the Raza knows that it's the alien possessed simulants' doings. TWO and THREE go undercover on a charity gala to kidnap a simulant they found in the DwarfStar database FIVE had copied/hacked into.

English is not my native tongue. Constructive criticism/correction is welcomed.

There are references to kasey8473's amazing fanfiction "Juliet and her Romeo". I think kasey's Dark Matter fanfictions are ones of the best out there! Just to make this canon – THREE and TWO aren't a couple, although both obviously do have feelings for each other as seen and stated in the show.

I know that it is a bit disturbing at first that I write their names/numbers in capitals, but that's the way Mr. Mallozzi did at 4.01 and 4.02 on his blog. Just being canon here.

This story takes place exactly after 4.02, also including the "next episode spoilers".

X – X – X – X

Chapter 1

FOUR sat at the breakfast table, his wary gaze fixed onto Wexler showing his obvious dislike and distrust of the other man. The man in question, who ignored the fallen emperor's glare, munched on the remains of his protein-rehydrated scrambled eggs, which did amazingly taste great despite being not the real deal – that whimsical android of theirs was a really great cook.

"Hey." greeted THREE in his cheerful and nonchalant mood, making his way through the mess to the adjoined galley and took a bottle of milk from behind a panel, the container a little warm by the pipes running through this section. He unscrewed the bottle and took a very careful whiff, wrinkling his nose and keeping from gaging. Sobering up, a satisfied grin crept onto his features when he put the bottle into the freezer for a moment only to take the now cool container out and exchange it with the fresh milk in the fridge.

Done with his preparations, the man filled his plate generously and grabbed a cup of coffee. When he was about to pour cream in, he hesitated a moment and took a good whiff from the small can – you never knew if that kid might have the same idea as you did. Determined the cream was safe, he poured a large amount into his coffee before bringing his breakfast over to the big table, sinking down into the chair opposite FOUR.

He scrutinized the other man for a moment, still unsure what to think. A part of him was wary and still believed that Ryo Ishida might still be in his head just pretending to be their FOUR again and to have forgotten the past months. Despite the Android's repeated assurance that the procedure had been a full success and that all memories had been completely walled off before uploading the neuronal image of FOUR the day he'd used their transit pod on their op to steal the blink drive adapter.

The former emperor did look a bit lost - like they all have been after they woke up from the mind wipe and found out the first shocking fragments of their infamous pasts. If the procedure had indeed worked and FOUR had learned about the past months and his failure to reign Zairon, his betrayal of his true family, that feud they had, their vote to end Ryo's life and his decision to rather start over with his memories wiped once more than ending in exile from the only home he had left in the universe from a short video message Ryo had compiled shortly before telling them about his decision to take that last straw of hope. If it had indeed worked, then THREE somehow pitied the other man.

He pitied him to have learned that all was in vain and that even his old memories couldn't keep him from being betrayed by people he once knew he could trust. And he especially pitied him for the knowledge that his deeds directly lead to the death of the woman he loved. THREE didn't know if he could live with such a knowledge if their places were reversed.

SIX entered the mess, greeted everyone with a 'good morning' and collected his food and coffee, before sitting down next to their returned friend. He exchanged a quick gaze with THREE before following FOUR's glare to Wexler on the far end of the table. "You doing ok, man?"

This brought a quick glance towards him from the swordsman. "He is supposed to be dead. TWO spaced him."

"That was the Wexler of our reality." THREE pointed onto the only person onboard, who held memories of his own past. "_He_ hitched a ride from an alternative reality we had most likely spaced the Kid in. So no memory-wipe, causing Tiny to end with a bullet in the head, courtesy of Portia. And somehow Portia, Boone, Corso – the real weasel, not our good-hearted Pretty Boy – ended up with Wexler and Tash in their team." He saw the doubt in the swordsman's features. "Yeah, I know. It's like in one of those old horror movies the Kid likes to watch."

"And now we are stuck with him?" FOUR asked in clear disbelief. _'What movies?'_

"Stranger things have happened." SIX thought about their time travel, the alien invasion and FIVE's message from the future. "Really, much stranger things."

"I know when I'm not welcomed." Wexler got to his feet, placed his empty plate onto a counter in the galley and left the mess, just when FIVE entered, a tablet pc in hand.

"Morning, guys." She greeted and placed the device next to THREE, opposite of SIX and began gathering her breakfast and heating the milk from the fridge for her first dose of hot chocolate of the day.

FOUR's gaze travelled over his friends. "Where is Devon?" He hadn't seen the man the evening before.

Everyone traded another gaze, before the youngest decided to answer, fetching the tablet with her research from THREE's nosy fingers. "He never returned from his stop at Regulus 12." She took a bite from her scrambled-eggs-imitate. "He left without saying good-bye."

FOUR watched THREE put the salt shaker in front of the girl, who in turn took the item cautiously. First she tested if the lid was shut tightly then she sampled the salt, before finally salting her breakfast. With a confused brow hitched he heard the other man ask the little tech wiz "What? You're not trusting me?"

"I know you are up to something, THREE. I can see it in your face." Her words caused the gun-loving man's features to turn into an obviously mock hurt expression, while she lifted her cup and took a big sip of her favorite beverage. His face suddenly split into a large smirk as FIVE almost heaved and spitted her hot chocolate back into her cup before dashing to the water dispenser and drowning an entire cup. When she turned around to glare down onto the culprit, her face was a mixture of disgust and something else, FOUR couldn't put his finger on in the first moment. "Eewwww, that was sooo gross!" Her features suddenly showed one of her bright smiles and she returned to her former spot with another cup of water.

"Seriously you two…" SIX shook his head. He honestly didn't get his two friends and the fun they shared by playing each other pranks. "She could've become sick if she had swallowed that!"

"Relax, SIX. I didn't destroy all her taste buds with my super sour maple syrup last week. She wouldn't have swallowed the swill." He looked over at the girl. "And even if, I doubt it would have stayed inside her for long."

"Ewww." The girl retrieved the cup with the toxic hot chocolate and drained it in the sink of the neighbored galley. "Still, if I get sick because I did swallow bits of that bad milk, you have to look after me and make me sandwiches." In an afterthought she added. "But not such a strange one with prickles like last time."

"One, I hadn't made that one for you. And two, for that you claim it tasted weird, you did eat it all up."

"How did you manage to keep the milk fluid and from making chunks when being heated?" The youngest crew member sat back down next to her gun-loving friend and began eating her scrambled eggs.

"Secret." THREE answered her with a very satisfied smirk and drained his coffee. "How did you manage to keep the strawberry taste in the jam yet making it taste like rotten fish once swallowed?"

"Secret." Her smirk mirrored his.

Both watched a tiny, yet somehow scary looking smile tug on FOUR's lips. "What?" they asked in unison.

A really small chuckle escaped their former sworn enemy. "You two have changed. Your easy going attitude… I remember breakfast yesterday, at least for me it was yesterday, FIVE would be rather relaxed and not scared in your presence, yet Boone and the way you were after waking from stasis seemed always to be on the back of her mind."

Both shrugged their shoulders. "We went through a lot these past months." FIVE said after a while, when their leader made her appearance.

TWO fetched her coffee and sighed when she milked the last drops of cream from the can. Rummaging in their supplies in the small kitchen, she came up empty handed and decided to help herself out with some of FIVE's milk.

"Is that the milk from the fridge?" TWO nodded 'yes' to THREE's question and lifted the beverage to her lips. A simultaneous "Don't!" rang from FIVE and THREE when one of the nastiest smells she could remember smelling, hit her nostrils. Her sickened gaze travelled to the two culprits.

"Hey, we warned you." THREE said in defense.

"Just see to it that there isn't any collateral damage with your prank battles." The leader of the Raza tried to keep her expression stern, but inwardly she was happy about the friendship and closeness between the two. When she thought back to the time after they'd awoken from stasis and FIVE's sometimes scared expressions around their obnoxious loudmouth, she preferred their jokes over that tense atmosphere a thousand times – even if it meant that one of the other crew members were caught up accidentally in their pranks from time to time.

"I'll put a hazard warning sign onto that bottle, boss." THREE said while chewing on the eggs. "The fresh milk is down on the first shelf behind the leftovers of yesterday's supper."

She retrieved the bottle, smelled on the liquid and put some in a new cup before filling it up with coffee. "How about pouring it into the drain like any normal person would do?" She watched him think about it a moment.

"Aww, nope." He smirked at her headshake and her rolling her eyes at his antics – suppressing the grin on her lips with all her might.

After putting down her meal on the empty seat at the head of the table, between THREE and FOUR, TWO took in the latter. She really wished that it had worked and that she could trust him like she could trust the rest of her crew, yet she had decided that the transponder should remain implanted in FOUR for the time being. Better safe than sorry. Her gaze fell upon her youngest crewmember, completely absorbed in the information on her tablet. "What are you reading, FIVE?"

The girl looked up and placed the device down for everyone to see the picture of a young woman with dark brown hair, blue eyes and a distinct resemblance of their tech wiz. "That's Carina Reynaud."

"Reynaud." Repeated TWO surprised. '_Carina._' A knot settled in her stomach. That girl was part of future-FIVE's prophecy and now turned out to be a Reynaud – she didn't need to ask if Alicia Reynaud was indeed Carina's adoptive-mother, the tormented expression of FIVE said everything. This meant nothing good.

"Aww shit, Kid!" THREE put his fork to the side and watched as the girl wiped her finger to the left and another picture of the same girl with a man and a woman, they all knew well, appeared. "Can't really say that your sis was indeed the lucky one of the two of you."

"Sister?" The resemblance was indeed there. FOUR stared onto the picture of the woman he remembered to have entered the transit pod only a few hours before to infiltrate her fortress. "It can't be a coincidence that you of all people stole the drive from your sister's mother. You had more dreams? Memories?"

She shook her green-haired head no. "You, no, Ryo was the one telling me about who my sister was. Until then I didn't know who had adopted her."

Taking a sip from her hot coffee, TWO scrutinize the girl with concern. She knew she wanted to reach out to her only blood-relative alive and she couldn't blame her for this wish. "You want to contact her?"

The teenager slumped back in her chair, like all hope had left her. "What should I say? Sorry I missed the meeting we had scheduled on that space station, but I kinda was in a hurry to snatch a ride off of said station before your mom kills me, too after she had already killed all my friends because I cabbaged an invaluable item from your mom's contact; an item she had ordered people to steal in the first place from Electus Corp. And later I broke into her fortress to steal the rest of said drive, while she captured my friends and threatened to send a pulse through the transit pots to fry my family's brains. But we are sisters after all, so no hard feelings, huh?"

A sad silence settled about the group. Even THREE was at a loss of words – there wasn't anything he could say to comfort his friend.

After a while FOUR broke the quite. "You had more dreams? You remember?"

"No, I didn't for months now and I don't have those dreams anymore."

"We had to wall her memories off like it is the case with the rest of us." TWO supplied and swapped the picture on the tablet back to the one, only showing Carina. "What do you know about your sister?"

"I know she is two years older than me. Just started her first year on the Terran Institute of Technology, the best tech university in the galaxy, by the way."

"So you have tinkering with wires and stuff in common. That's good." SIX tried with a reassuring smile.

"But that's about it." A heart-breaking sigh escaped the teenager's lips. "She apparently loves to wear skirts and tight shirts – I really mean tight, and showy…" Her expression made clear that she would never share her sister's wardrobe with her. "She collects handbags from all planets and stations she had visited with her parents - only via transfer transit of course. She loves to drive aero board, go to parties, currently her favorite food is algae salad with fruits imported from the Kadarian system – should be really spicy stuff – and she does something called Salkido." She wrinkled her forehead. "Apparently a mixture of Salsa and Aikido."

TWO hitched her brows. "Seriously?"

"You are doing well at our training sessions, little warrior. Maybe martial arts could be another common ground between you and your sister."

"I'm not dancing during kicking someone's ass." Her face turned uncertain. "I somehow doubt she enjoys the Aikido part more than the dancing part."

"Knowing how to dance isn't wrong, FIVE." SIX was faced with the girl's blank stare. "Maybe you'll find out it's fun."

"Anyway… Her currently biggest problem in life is the decision if she should get her pet Kawaii an Alpha Centauri Summer Dog cut or rather an Eridani Spring Cat cut." The girl scrolled down and enlarged the picture of a cat big creature with the fur of a golden-brown tiger, large green cat-slit eyes while the snout was too long to be a cat's as were the floppy ears.

"Well, it is _cute_." TWO muttered in response to the animal's name, still trying to figure out what exactly she was looking at.

THREE moved the tablet, so he could have a better look, just as the Android entered wordlessly and looked over the man's shoulder onto the animal. "Is that a dog or a cat?"

FIVE's dumbfounded expression mirrored the rest of the crew of the Raza. "Both."

"Eh?"

"Most – curious." Android said in her usual monotone, blinking once and left for the galley, rummaging through the fridge.

"Smell on the milk before you use it, Robot." THREE warned and placed the tablet back onto the tabletop in the middle of their semi-circle.

The Android smelled on the one bottle, she'd found in the fridge and then on the other one standing on the counter. "Why should I-… Do you intend to use this bottle for further pranks, THREE?"

"Nope." Under his breath he added. "No use if everyone knows about it."

SIX still starred puzzled onto the poor chimera. "I thought galactic charta states that manufacturing life via artificial reconstruction of DNA between different mammalian species is prohibited."

"Apparently not for animals in the Vacari system."

"How do you know so much about her?" Their leader was curious. "Did you hack into her diary?"

FIVE swapped the current picture of Kawaii to the side, making Carina's blog show up with dozens of pictures of herself with other girls her age, countless posts of handbags, shirts and of course her pet. All labeled with stories and time stamps. "Hacking is really not necessary."

Worriedly TWO scrolled through the endless private information of the rich teenager. "You aren't active in one of those sites?"

"I'm not stupid. My GA mug-shot is already giving enough personal information away."

"Good girl."

THREE swatted the woman's hand away and enlarged a picture of Carina, obviously styled for a party in an outfit that left nothing to guess.

"Stop staring at my sister's ass!"

"I'm not staring at that kid's ass – although she doesn't look like a kid at all – you sure she's only 18?" THREE's fingers were grabbed by their residential teenager, to stop him from enlarging the picture in one certain spot any further. "I try to figure out what the hell that is she is wearing."

FOUR had fetched the tablet and pulled it over to him and SIX. "I would rather call it a lack of fabric."

"Or modesty." SIX's features clearly showed his disapproval.

TWO had found some rather showing items in her wardrobe after waking from stasis, some things she would only wear behind closed doors, but even Portia's smallest piece of cloth was by far covering more than the something Carina wore. "I think it is a transparent mini-skirt."

"Mini-mini-skirt… Like in microscopic."

SIX ignored THREE's comment and frowned even more at the picture. "Yes. But why in the universe would someone wear this little in public?"

THREE was still gaping dumbfounded. "Her dad let's her run around in those please-rape-me clothes? Seriously? Her mom is a bitch and her dad isn't looking what his daughter does!"

"According to the GNN fashion magazine, those skirts are the biggest hit this season among girls age 16 to 25. The fabric even change the color accordingly to the weather conditions." Android sat down next to FIVE, still analyzing the fashion news data that was directly downloaded to her neuronal matrix. "Amazing."

"Hm-hm." SIX was still dumbstruck.

THREE's jaw was still slacking as he pointed first at FIVE. "No." Then onto the Android. "No." Then onto their leader, thinking a moment. "Maybe… but just onboard the Raza."

TWO's eyes widened in horror. "No!"

THREE enlarged Carina's face and pointed onto her eyes. "Why's the white of her eyes shining golden? And what is that red spot next to her iris?"

SIX's face twisted in agony. "Owww God… I saw this on GNN a few weeks back. Totally inn now: eye-ball piercings and eye-ball tattoos."

"What?" "How the hell?" "Why?"

Android blinked several times, processing this new information, the picture and the data she retrieved from their news-downloads. "I fail to understand why someone would want to have a ruby in their eyes, but I can answer the question of 'how the hell'. The eyes will be first numbed with two drops of a liquid analgesic, before a 150°C hot 1,6 mm long aglet will b-"

"Please, please stop. We get the picture!" SIX visibly shuddered.

"Yes, I do have the picture right in front of my eyes." THREE looked sickened and pressed his own eyes shut. "I definitely don't need it IN my eyes."

FIVE smirked evilly at the men of the Raza. "When they insert the aglet it makes that sizzling sound."

"Eww, FIVE!"

The girl saw the questioning gaze of TWO on her. "Carina has a video of her eye piercing surgery a few posts down."

"You can dye your hair in rainbow colors and get five piercings in each ear if you like, but hands of your eyes." TWO said in that big sister/motherly tone, she sometimes used on the teenager.

Before FIVE could retort in some way or another, not that she would argue to get some surgery of any kind to her perfectly fine eyes, Android put her mug of hot chocolate down abruptly. "I have found a match."

It took TWO a moment to figure what the other woman meant. Ever since they had found out about the Dwarf Star Conspiracy, she had let Android search the newsfeeds for matches in the Dwarf Star Database. "On screen."

The blond complied and the picture of a man in his mid-thirties with dark hair appeared on the screen. "Travis Severin. According to the news article he is the representative of Alturi Industries. Before the war, Vermogen had made advances to take over Alturi's research branch. Severin advanced quickly in his career, not only because of the accidental death at diving of his precursor."

"Accidental, my ass." SIX muttered and resumed his breakfast while listening.

"The Dwarf Star Database states that he was activated 5 months and 19 days ago to infiltrate Alturi Industries and later on Vermogen." Android looked into the round of her friends. "It seems the war has brought his mission to a momentarily standstill."

FOUR tried to follow this information. "Wait, what do you mean by activated? Is he an android?"

"There are more like me." TWO took a sip of her coffee. "Much more."

"Only difference is that the others are programmed to be loyal to Rook and are hosts to alien invaders."

"Seriously?" FOUR looked like he thought THREE was trying to fool him.

"Seriously." Their youngest assured and faced their android. "So, he is a simulant, but is he also possessed?"

"Doesn't actually matter. Either way, he is spying and planning to do God knows what. And with the invasion of the Black Ships, it will happen rather sooner than later." TWO said, her features determined.

SIX knew this expression by now, as did the rest of their crew. "So you wanna go and kidnap him and see what we can learn?"

"We can't let a simulant, who is most likely possessed by an alien run loose in a position, he could even influence the war."

The large man lifted his hands in an appeasing gesture. "I'm not saying we shouldn't."

Her gaze drifted over to their gun-loving crewmember. He chewed the last bits of his scrambled eggs. "It's a bad idea, and you know it, but no matter what I say, we will go anyway." He lifted his hand, his index-finger stretched out. "But just for the record: It is a bad idea."

FIVE grinned somewhat about the rim of her mug. "So? How do we do it?"

"There is a charity gala in six days, Severin will take part in."

TWO furrowed her brows at the blond. "You suggest we mingle among the guests or play one of the waiters?"

"Simply walking inside will be impossible with the high security in place." Android checked the references she could retrieve from the downloaded newsfeeds. "I suggest some of us assume the identities of some guests, who are not active in the media and thus rather unknown. " She saw the skeptical gazes of the rest of her crewmates. "I need access to a datahub for further investigation."

With a sigh TWO eventually began to eat her breakfast. "Fine. Set a course to the next space station. We need to repair and resupply anyway."

X – X – X – X – X

A/N: I hoped you liked it so far.

Please check also out the two sequels (later virtual "episodes"):

4.0X I Wish I Could Take Your Pain Away

4.0x I can't Bribe Them Enough to not Tell (will be out this weekend)

Reviews are a wonderful thing and the only way I know someone is actually reading this and not closing it after the first few lines…


End file.
